1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power management module, which is electrically connected between an AC/DC switching power supply and an electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Data processing systems are systems that perform manipulation, signal processing, and data storage operations. Personal computer systems and their associated subsystems are two main units constituting data processing systems. A personal computer system can usually be classified as a desktop computer system or a portable computer system. A typical portable computer system includes a system unit having a system processor with associated volatile and non-volatile memory, a display monitor, a keyboard, one or more drives, and a mass storage device.
In addition, a personal computer system typically includes a power supply which receives commercial alternating current (AC) power, converts the AC power down to a smaller direct current (DC) voltage, and supplies the DC voltage to the various components of the computer system. FIG. 1 is a view for explaining a power supply 14 for a desktop computer system 10. The portable computer system 10 is connected by line 12 to the power supply 14. The power supply 14 has a plug 16 which engages an AC external power source outlet 18. In general, the power supply 14 receives the commercial AC power supply of 110V or 220V, converts the AC power supply into multiple DC voltages including 12V, 5V and 3.3V, and supplies the DC voltages to the various components inside or outside the desktop computer system 10. For example, the 12V DC voltage is used to drive a processor, a system board, a display card, or fans, the 5V DC voltage is provided to peripheral devices of the desktop computer system 10, such as a computer mouse or a keyboard, and the 3.3V DC voltage is used to drive a system board, PCI card, a sound card and a network card.
FIG. 2 is a view for explaining a power supply for a portable computer system 20. The portable computer system 20 is connected by line 22 to the power supply (hereinafter referred to as an AC/DC adaptor 24). The AC/DC adaptor 24 has a plug 26 which engages an AC external power source outlet 28. If the portable computer system 20 uses a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) 202, a DC voltage of 14V is usually required. Therefore, the AC/DC adaptor 24 receives the commercial AC power supply of 110V or 220V, converts the AC power supply into a DC voltage of 14V, and supplies the DC voltage to the portable computer system 20.
However, the configuration of the prior art power supply and the adaptor is designed to provide constant voltage and current to the personal computer systems or platforms, and the personal computer systems or platforms cannot obtain the operation conditions of the power supply or the adaptor, such as a margin of the rest power that the power supply can support. Therefore, if the number of peripheral devices connected to the personal computer system increases, the power supply may not be burdened with additional output power. Furthermore, if the system changes the operation mode, for example, the system enters a turbo mode from a normal mode, the temperature of the power supply may increase rapidly due to the excessive power consumption, which causes abnormal output voltage or current. Therefore, there is a need to provide a power management module so as to efficiently use the power provided by the power supply.